when I’m ninety four…

One of my favourite Tone ‘n Cherie moments of all time was when the huge-mouthed, grinning Mrs Blair belted out the Beatles ditty “ When I’m Sixty Four” to a dumbfounded and disbelieving audience in Beijing way back in 2003.  The shock and awe on Tone’s face provided great telly as he struggled to rein in his missus when she simply would not stop the sing-a-long.  I was reminded of that pearl this week as it was announced that “middle age” apparently now begins at 55.  The projected longevity of children born today is truly frightening for those that will have to support the old in their retirement. Unless they are forced to work ‘til they drop the oldsters will be a vast financial drain on Britain’s increasingly stretched resources.  In barely more than a century we have almost doubled life expectancy.  Historical man of letters Thomas Hobbes described human life in 1651 as “nasty, brutal and short”( funnily enough this description was once also applied to fascist-funnyman Jim Davidson).   Hobbes may still be right on his first two points but advances in medicine and lifestyle has changed his last point enormously.  Fifty five was once an advanced age that saw the dying of the light edging ever nearer; today it is the “second youth” where early retirees swan about on canal boats or catch STDs on Saga holidays.  There are now more over sixty fives than under sixteens in Britain; a fact nearly as scary as the thought of Cherie warming up her vocal chords for another Beatles rendition.  Will you still need me, will you still feed me when I’m ninety four?